Endless track sustaining and aligning means



June 13,1950 s. o. RARICK 2,511,736

ENDLESS TRACK SUSTAINING AND ALIGNING MEANS Filed Jan. 21. 1948 Fig.1.

Samuel 0. Ran'c/r INVENTOR.

Patented June 13, 1950 a use,

TRACK SUSTAINING' AIiIGNING MEANS See Q- her en ewa e. Application January 21, 194 8, S eria l 1l9. i 1 la m- (cl ents).

The. present invention re ates t simp ra tical and suitably-- constructed means. which is ex,- pressly adapted to align and sustain endlesstracks or the; (Jatewpillar" style used on present day crawler-type tractors.

More specifically, the preferred embodiment of the nvention e ss h term of. a ple rope ly mounted roller which is susp nse, on. the tractor frame adiacent to a front track supporting idler, said roller being expressly locatedfor coaction with. an. adjacent edge portion of the upper run of: the. endless. track. More particularly, themollersare used inpairs on, oppositeco resp sidesof the tractor frameandlocated in corresponding positions wherethey are in readiness, at all times, to perform the desired results.

' "Ordinarily, the tracks usedonthes'types of tractors do not demount under regular or average working conditions. However, when the tracks are working in loose earth, rocks or aggregates of various sizes, the links of the tracks become loaded or filled, thus forcing the tracks away from the usual peripheral flange on the idlers, whereby the'tracks are then accidentally demounted. Demounting is apt to occur especially when a tractor is working in a position leaning to either side, causing a side directional force against the tracks tending to dislodge same. Then, too, when these tractors are equipped with bulldozers or other earth moving or construction equipment, the extreine working conditions usually prevail, giving rise to the need for extra facilities, such as my invention. Consequently, with my novel track aligning rollers properly situated, they serve to overcome the objections stated, save many hours of hard and unnecessary work such as is usually required to remount tracks which have become dislodged from adverse working conditions.

Another object of the invention is to provide roller type track aligning means which in practice prevent undue wear on both the track links and peripheral or tread flanges of the front idlers.

A still further object of the invention is to provide effective and eflicient means to attain the stated ends and, in so doing, to utilize rollers which may be readily cut or fashioned from a piece of steel shafting, the rollers having reduced journals and rotating in dry bearings provided in simple lugs which are welded or otherwise anchored for use on the tractor frame.

Other objects and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying illustrative drawing.

In the drawing: Figure 1 is a top plan view showing a conventional; craw1er=type tractor equipped with my invention;

fi ure; 2: a. fragmentary front elevational view of Figure 1, that is. a view observing the structure in, a direction: from right to left;-

Ei'gure 3: is a fragmentarysectional view; which shows; the; construction and relationship of. parts in greater detail, thezview beings suflicientlyv enlargest to serveitspurpose;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary; perspective view showing. one, of the safety rollers and its construction andmode of. mounting.

Referring now to. the drawing by reference characters, the, character A denotes a conventional-form crawlerrtype tractor having the customary frontidler B' to. accommodate the links of the endless traction track 6. As shownv 1.1. Fi ure. 3f the rim D of; they idler isprovided. with a central endless flange or rib E which functions in the manner illustrated.

The guard and track aligning means, as it may be broadly referred to, is the same on each side of the tractor frame and therefore a description of one device will serve for both. As illustrated in Figure 4 the stated means is characterized by a cylindrical roller 5 of appropriate cross sectional size, provided with reduced end journals 6 mounted in dry bearings 1 in supporting and placing lugs 8. The lugs are of the shape shown and are welded or otherwise anchored as at 9 on the tractor frame. The roller is situated so that approximately one half portion thereof is inwardly of the endless track and the remaining half portion projects forwardly beyond the track. The most effective position is on a horizontal plane slightly below the plane of the top run of the track and at a point where said top run takes a downward turn around the foremost peripheral portion of the idler. This is the region of the track which is, under the stated conditions, most frequently dislodged and demounted. The device is also so mounted on the tractor mainframe that it is in a position that the track pads pass at center of roller when running on smooth surfaces. This allows for shifting of tracks when running on uneven surfaces. It is to be noted that the roller is normally spaced and does not physically contact the track pads except when the track links start to demount the flange of idler. Consequently, the roller comes into play only when the coacting portion of the track starts to demount. When the latter condition arises, the roller constitutes the guard and sustains the track and prevents same from fully demounting.

tors working alongside (without my invention) have had dialy occur rences of tracks demounting, causingconsiderable loss of time and production;

A careful consideration of the foregoing de scription in conjunction with the invention as illustrated in the drawing will enable the reader to obtain a clearund'erstandingand impression of the alleged features of merit and novelty suflicient to clarify the construction of the invention as hereinafter claimed. 1

Minor changesin shape, size, materials and rearrangement of parts may be resorted to in actual practice so long as no departure is made from the invention as claimed.

Having described 'the invention, what is claimed as new is: v

-' In a structure of the class shown'anddesc'ribed, in combination, a heavy duty tractor for operating bulldozers and equivalent heavy equipment, said tractor being of a conventional type and in- I did not have any tracks to demount whilezsimilar trac in same conditions #1 eluding a wheel supported frame, having spaced 35 parallel crawler-type tracks of the us'ual endless type with "said tracks located on opposite longitudinal-sides of said frame and wheel means in motion, travels.

for operatively supporting said tracks including the usual front idling type wheels having peripheral flanges for mounting and guiding said tracks, and a track guard for the forward end portion of each endless track, said guards being fixedly supported on the opposite sides of the frame and each guard being normally inactive but located in readiness for retentive coaction with the top run of the adjacent track at a point where latter curves downwardly from a horizontal plane to hug the forward half portion of said idler, said guard being a horizontally elongated and disposed 1011GT freely rotatable in journalling brackets secured on said frame, said roller being normally out of physical contact with the complemental run of the track, one half, the forward half, projecting forwardly and beyond the coacting front run of said track and the remaining, the rearward half, projecting radially rearward of the adjacent flanged portion of the idler in order to occupy the position in the space inwardly of the orbita1 path through which said track, when SAMUEL O. RARICK.

. REFERENCES CI' IED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,318,188 Tritton Oct. 7, 1919 FOREIGN PATENTS 7 ,Number Country Date 5,260 Great Britain Oct. 6, 1825 107,997 Sweden Jul 20, 1943 

